Back in November 2024, the Parish Council put a sum of £1,500 in its budget for the 2025/26 financial year to pump-prime/start off work on the Neighbourhood Plan for any expenditure prior to applying for Government Grant e.g. hall hire, consultant’s time etc.
Village meetings were held in the first three months of 2025 where the majority of residents attended voted ‘in favour’ of progressing with putting together a Neighbourhood Plan for our parish council area.
A Government grant of £10,000 would be applied for in April 2025 (a new financial year) to cover the likely cost of all the work involved in producing a Neighbourhood Plan, which was the common practice. However, the Government’s Spending Review (started in April and concluded in June) put a stop on such grants. The Parish Council had a decision to make about how it could move forward, as the Steering Group had been set up and started work on the Plan.
The Parish Council agreed to go-ahead with the Plan and was able to find funding it could utilise without affecting its services, making £9,000 available adding to the remaining balance of the pump-priming sum. The Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group agreed to working frugally – undertaking as much work themselves, finding meeting venues free of charge, to keep the budget as low as possible, and calling in the services of a consultant only when necessary.
The Parish Council has decided to put £1,500 in its budget for 2026/27, to be raised via the Precept (a small part of your Council Tax you pay to Dorset Council) to add to the overall budget as a precautionary measure. It had hoped to do all of the Neighbourhood Plan without imposing anything on residents but with no grants available, a small portion of the funds needed – approximately £2.50 per household is being sought.